EcoMedia’s application seeking patent protection for its innovative EcoAd advertising program has been granted special status within the Commerce Department’s U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The special status is a part of the USPTO’s Green Technology Pilot Program that allows for expedited processing of patent applications related to green technology.

“The fast-tracking of the patent application for our EcoAd program is an explicit confirmation that innovative media programs like ours benefit the environment/society just as substantially – and perhaps even more so – than any inventions created in a lab or factory,” explains Paul Polizzotto, Founder and President of EcoMedia-CBS. “It is extremely gratifying to have the USPTO acknowledge, through its expediting of the review process, the meaningful impact that our EcoAd program makes in communities around the country.”

“American competitiveness depends on innovation and innovation depends on creative Americans developing new technology,” states David Kappos, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO. “We’ve seen great results so far with patent applications submitted under this Program. I am thankful for the trust U.S. innovators, such as EcoMedia, have put in us by using the program.”

The EcoAd program, for which EcoMedia is seeking patent protection, provides advertisers with an innovative option for purchasing advertising that will deliver added value beyond a traditional marketing campaign. With the purchase of every EcoAd advertising package, a portion of dollars spent goes directly toward funding environmental and clean energy projects, all of which have been identified by local municipalities and public entities as being critical. Since launching earlier this year, EcoAd advertising packages have been available across CBS platforms, including network, local television, radio, outdoor, and online.

While seeking patent protection EcoMedia continues to educate consumers through a Look for the Leaf promotional campaign which educates viewers that EcoAds are -- as their logo states -- “Ads Funding Environmental Projects.” The aim of the campaign is to help consumers both recognize and appreciate that when they see an ad bearing the EcoAd logo, community projects are being supported. The campaign continues to deliver millions of impressions across multiple CBS media platforms.

“Because our EcoAd program is something truly new in advertising, we’re going to great lengths to educate folks about what the EcoAd program is – and what it isn’t,” said Polizzotto. “It’s important for folks to know that what’s ‘green’ about our EcoAd program is the distribution of the advertising itself.”

Support for EcoMedia's EcoAd program has come from leaders across the public-private spectrum.

"Innovation is the key to making our communities healthier, more energy independent and more competitive in the global economy,” said George E. Pataki, former Governor of the state of New York, whose firm, Chadbourne & Parke, LLP is outside patent counsel to CBS EcoMedia. “We were delighted to bring Paul's EcoAd platform to the attention of the U.S. Patent office and couldn't be more pleased to see it rightfully accelerated as part of the country's Green Patent initiative.

“The EcoAd program has been one of the best ideas I have encountered to safeguard our natural resources so I’m pleased to hear it’s being fast tracked through the patent process,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Founder and President, Waterkeeper Alliance and Senior Counsel, NRDC. “Through the EcoAd program cities get much needed funds; communities get cleaner water, air and green spaces; and corporations can put their resources to work for the betterment of society.”

About CBS EcoMedia Inc.

At EcoMedia, we're propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that's been our mission since we founded the company in 2002. Our premise? That the billions of dollars spent annually in advertising represent a tremendous reservoir of untapped resources – resources that should be directed toward bricks-and-mortar projects which benefit local communities. We develop and nurture a wide-ranging network of partnerships with municipal governments and NGOs nationwide, and connect them with corporations eager to improve the quality of life in the communities they serve.

The result is our EcoAd program, a profoundly innovative twist on traditional advertising, which we have protected through a robust patent portfolio development program. Through our proprietary service, we are able to efficiently redirect a portion of every EcoAd-branded media buy to a local community, where it funds a much-needed environmental project: a solar installation on a community center (San Francisco), a refurbished park and playground for kids with special needs (Arlington, Texas), an elementary school solar learning area (Boston suburbs).

In 2008, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide-range of projects including an energy efficiency retrofit and solar power installation at Miami City Hall, a green makeover for public schools in San Francisco, Miami and Cook County, Ill., and a solar panel installation at California's Long Beach airport, we were proud to become the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing and outdoor media.

The EcoAd program aims to create jobs, save taxpayer money and improve the environment. In the process, we're fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary commercial – and green media, in general – into a catalyst for real, quantifiable, and measurable change.

We invite you to visit ecoad.cbs.com to learn more about the tangible improvements EcoMedia is making in communities across the country.

EcoAd is not a certification program, nor is the EcoAd logo a seal of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoAd advertisers, their products or services.

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